Homeless Teenagers
Of all the sadness that occurs in the world, one of the saddest situations is that of homeless teenagers. It is mind boggling that so many teenagers literally live on the street, in abandoned buildings, under bridges, and anywhere else they can find to crash for awhile. Many of these are mere children at 13 and 14 years old. They should be chatting and laughing with friends, having fun, and doing school work. Instead, they are struggling to find food and shelter on the street.
There are many reasons that these kids become homeless teenagers. Some are “throwaways,” which means that they were forced out of their homes by their own parents. When asked about these teenagers, the parents usually responded that they caused too much trouble. The very people who should be protecting and loving these children just threw them away. This is not only incredibly heart wrenching, but it is also appalling.
Then, there are the runaways. These kids will tell you that, even though it is really hard on the streets, that, to them, it’s better than living in a house with their families. Usually abuse of some sort is the reason these kids choose to become homeless teenagers. It can be due to physical, sexual, mental, or emotional abuse. Rather than be “broken” by their situation, they choose to escape it by running. Sometimes they are leaving to avoid facing a situation they know their families will disapprove of, such as pregnancy, or homosexuality. These teenagers were usually neither wanted nor cared for.
When these teenagers hit the streets, they form their own “families.” In groups of up to 20 kids, they live together wherever they can find a place. They support themselves by panhandling, stealing, selling drugs, or prostitution. After awhile, they will do whatever it takes to get a meal or a semi-warm place to sleep.
The good news is that some of the larger cities are taking steps to provide safe havens for these homeless teenagers to stay. Money for these shelters come from private donations and fund raisers. The staff that runs them is usually volunteers, for the most part, although some of the funds are designated for a paid shelter manager. These shelters are popping up more and more frequently as the big cities seem to have the largest amount of this teen population. The people who run the shelters provide any number of things from a warm, safe place to stay, to food, educational needs, and anything else that is needed.
While the shelters are a great idea and wonderful way to help, the real problem still needs to be addressed. That problem is keeping these kids off the street to begin with. Homes need to be more stable and parents need to be real parents. Until that is resolved, homeless teenagers will continue to exist and will continue to need our help.
